[MUD-Dev] Advancement considered harmful (long)

[J C Lawrence]

On Sun, 28 May 2000 12:32:08 -0400 
Dave Rickey <daver at mythicgames.com> wrote:

> My suspicion is that when the end comes for EQ, it will come
> quickly.  Every player that leaves it for another game will be
> that much less holding the people he leaves behind to keep going
> with business as usual.  It may be an EQ-like game with prettier
> graphics, or a game that offers a more compelling context, or
> something similar but with a stronger social fabric, or something
> completely different, but if a positive feedback loop gets started
> it will snowball very fast.  

More simply I see one of the larger appeals of EQ as visceral.  The
problem with banking on such is that sooner or later the "Oooo!"
button gets worn out, or more likely, someone else comes up with a
better/stronger "Wow" and all of a sudden you are old and therefore
boring.  More simply, I don't see a lot of value there that can be
extended past the technology edge (and its attraction) that EQ
presents.  They've done some good work in player cooperation etc,
but when cooperation is on the basis of grouping with an arbitrary
level X who possesses a Y weapon, then there's little space for
identity and the values of actually interpersonal realtionships.

Community is about people.  People as individuals.  People with
warts, identities, and character.  Community offers that staying
edge as it is unrelated to technology, graphics etc.  There's little
"cool!"  factor in community and the perception of "cool" is pretty
fickle.  There's a lot of "cool" in technology (at least per ZDNet
and C|Net <kof>) but there are damned few things that were cool a
couple years ago that are still cool now.  

Are there any GoP MUDs that you've played for more than 5 years as
a GoP player?

--
J C Lawrence                                 Home: claw at kanga.nu
----------(*)                              Other: coder at kanga.nu
--=| A man is as sane as he is dangerous to his environment |=--


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